Homeless families will benefit when Family Promise of San Gabriel Valley holds its fourth annual Empty Bowls Luncheon when Sunday, April 19 from 12 noon-3 p.m.. at the Sierra Madre Methodist Church, 695 Sierra Madre Blvd. in Sierra Madre (corner of Sierra Madre and Michillinda Blvds. with parking from Michillinda).

All proceeds from the event will go to Family Promise of San Gabriel Valley, 501 (c) 3 nonprofit organization that shelters homeless families and helps them find employment and housing.
For $30 in advance ($35 at the door) attendees will receive a handcrafted ceramic bowl, soup, bread, cookies and one chance at a gift basket.
Titles of some of the baskets are Weekend Getaway in the 626, Movie Night, Warm Your Heart, Golfer’s Gear, Starbucks, Panera Bagels for a Year, Coffee Bean Delight, Scrapbooker’s Basket, Chocolate Fantasy, Teddy Bear Tablet, Games for Kids and Healthy Cooking Using Steam. Additional tickets can be purchased for the gift baskets to increase one’s chances of winning. Registration is available online at http://bit.ly/EmptyBowls2015 or through participating churches.
Entertainment will be provided by Ramona Convent Secondary School Bell Choir, Tom Evans and Tom Bethke, Kevin Ivers, David Gallasini and Johnny Cabrera. Each group or individual will perform for about 20 minutes starting at noon.
There will also be an Artist Village, where local artisans will have their pottery, etc. for sale. For more information on the event see www.fpsgv.org.
The Family Promise Program started originally in 1988 in Summit, New Jersey and is presently in 42 States with 185 affiliates. More than 160,000 volunteers in 6,000 congregations help more than 53,000 homeless family members annually with 60 percent of them being children.
Nearly 80 percent of those who enter the program find long-term housing in less than two months. Monterey Park churches participating in the Family Promise of San Gabriel Valley program are St. Stephen Martyr Catholic Church, Trinity Church of the Nazarene, St. Paul’s Lutheran Church and New Harvest of Monterey Park.